Hope
by Olicitystories1
Summary: A woman tries to come in between Oliver and Felicity. Set after season 4... Damien Dhark is gone and they are back together.
Felicity was curled up against Oliver, they had gotten back together a few months ago and since then they had become inseparable. There was an endless cycle of lovemaking, probably to make up for the fact that they had been apart for so long. They had finally defeated Dhark and things had been quiet. Felicity and Oliver had finally been given the chance to grieve for Laurel as they did not have the chance. Since the funeral things had gone from 0 to 100, they were constantly watching their backs, working leads and every day seemed like a battle.

Now things had settled and the team could finally breathe. As Oliver stroked Felicity's bareback releasing a sigh of content who couldn't help but feel that he was being selfish.

"Stop thinking," a soft voice said as she kissed his chest.

Oliver smiled, even without her looking at him, she could always tell when something was on his mind. When they had gotten back together, he had promised never to keep anything from her again. It actually had been a relief every time he felt something to seek her out and tell her, she always made him feel lighter and he had been shocked and so angry at himself that he had never gone to her before. "I can't help but feel ..." he tried to find the words to describe it.

"Selfish" she breathed out.

"Yeah" he answered softly. "With Diggle ... he is still in such a vulnerable place, I don't know how to help him, Lyla is at a loss too, I feel like we shouldn't be happy" he ran his fingers through her hair.

Felicity propped up so she could look him in the face, "we have tried helping him, and we will continue because John has always been there for us. But I don't think John would ever want us to put anything on hold for him and we have to remember at the end of the day all we can provide him is support. I think that this is something John has to work out for himself" she leaned up and kissed him.

"You are right," Oliver said as he pulled her body flushed against his and devoured her mouth. Felicity started to moan in pleasure as their tongues started to dance around each other and they both got lost in their bliss again.

* * *

Felicity was frantically replying to the endless emails she had received. Her latest project was to start trials with the biochip and potentially have people walking again. You would think that once you had blueprints of a working chip it would be easy to mass produce. Complications had arisen early and the budget for the project had quickly declined without any new investors. Felicity had started to take budgets from other departments and projects but that was proving difficult with the board. People had started to disbelieve in the project and had attempted to pull the plug. She was told by the board that it was a miracle that she was walking but the funds, the means and the failed attempts to get the chips up and running meant that it was time to move onto a new venture. The board had all voted against taking funds from other departments and although her vote could overrule everyone, on this occasion she had to agree with them. If she started to do that, she would jeopardize the whole company. So she did what she thought was right and paid for the project with her own money. Which was slowly declining? She had put in 250,000 dollars and that had all gone with no effect what so ever. Oliver had been extremely supportive of everything and had tried to secure some funding now that he had become Mayor. Soon after Dhark was defeated Ruvre was finally found out about being his wife that she was arrested immediately. When this happened, Felicity had encouraged him to speak up about the threat against his family and that he was forced out of the running. When this was announced another vote took place and 89% of the public had voted for Oliver to become Mayor which was the highest in history to any Mayor or president. Oliver had felt overwhelmed and quickly went to work in saving the city during the day. He found that he actually really enjoyed being Mayor, helping people, meeting new people and seeing the struggle of others everyday really made him appreciate everything he had. He had believed for such a long time that he was broken and suffering, but what he saw practically every day shocked him to the core. He had seen a real struggle, single mothers are not being able to feed their children, children living in poverty, it made him think about how lucky he actually was. He was grateful to survive for the first time in his life, grateful for everything he had in his life.

"How is it going?" Oliver asked as he came down the stairs from his shower.

"I .. there is so much to do and we are out of money, I … think I might invest some more money," she said the last part hesitantly.

"Yeah, listen, I am all for this and I am here to support you, but I don't want it to get to the point where you continue to invest and …"

"Oliver, the money is nothing, if it doesn't work I don't care about the money."

"It's not about the money Felicity, it's about the disappointment," he told her as he kissed the back of her head and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, hugging her from behind. He felt her tense and he held her a little tighter, "talk to me baby" he said softly, placing another kiss on her head.

"I … I don't understand why it is not working, why did it work for me... why me" she shook her head as tears threatened to spill.

"Baby..."

"I … was only in a wheelchair for a short period of time, but it was probably the worst time of my life, not being able to move, having to rely on you to carry me, not being able to go to places because they didn't have a ramp. " She explained as she placed her hands over Oliver's. "Not being able to control my bowels was the worst" she started to cry.

"Shhh," Oliver turned her around in his arms as he pulled her close into his chest. "I know that it was horrible … I am so happy that Curtis found a way to help you."

"Yeah, and now I really hope we can find a way to help others," she said.

"I'm sure you will" Oliver placed a kiss on her lips as they pulled apart and he went on to make them breakfast.

"Thank you for the breakfast, I'm a lucky girl, now I have to go, love you" she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him lovingly as she unwantedly pulled away and packed her things to leave.

"Love you too, I'll come by with lunch," he told her.

* * *

Felicity had just come out of a long meeting with the board, none of which supported what she wanted to do. She was ok with the fact that they wanted to pull the plug it did not mean she would, though. So after her meeting, she headed to Curtis's lab and got to work with perfected some chips.

"You are quiet," Curtis said.

"Yes, I cannot fund this project anymore which means, this little chip you are working on is the last one so it has to work" Felicity explained. "The only way we can get investors is if we have this up and running and that we try it on someone. And it works obviously" Felicity rolled her eyes.

"And if it does not work... we stop?" Curtis questioned.

"No... we just put it on the backburner until we get some more money"

"So... do you want the good news or the bad news?"

"What?" Felicity said getting up from her seat.

"Good news is that the chip is working" Curtis laughed holding it up to show Felicity.

"Amazing," Felicity said as she jumped up and down and hugged Curtis tightly. "Wait what's the bad news?"

"The press... looks like someone told them about our failed attempts, the candidates we had who wanted to be guinea pigs... well when they heard they all pulled out... we don't have anyone to install this on" Curtis told her.

"Damn it..." Felicity growled granted growling was more Oliver's thing but she was so frustrated that it came out. "We need to find someone, we need to make a press release …" she said as she got her phone out and contacted HR.

"You think a press release will help?"

"Yes, someone has to come forward …. why you think it's a bad idea?"

"Well... why don't we just go round and ask I mean... we would be publicizing this for all the crazies to want to get their hands on it," Curtis said as he walked back and forth using his hands to gesture as he did.

"Well unless they are all wheelchair bound it has no other purpose, we need to at least say that we have it up and running, and we are looking to get the show-up and running... it will be fine."

* * *

Felicity had made an announcement, she had ensured that she was not literally asking people to volunteer for the procedure but she did inform the public of her intentions to then use the chip. It had been almost a week since the announcement and no one had come forward. The news about the chip had come with backlash, other companies making comments about it not working, making comments that if they already had one working why had it taken so long to get another one up and running. What hurt Felicity the most were the comments that she was deliberately stalling the project to maximize her profits by lying to the public and making the chip seem so rare that it would inevitably be really expensive to purchase for the working class.

"Someone will come forward," Oliver said, placing his hand over hers and giving it a tight squeeze.

"I don't know... I just don't understand … if you know there is a chance then why not take it"

"Because, people are afraid, this city has been through so much that anyone would be hesitant … not to say that the project is coming across as shady but … it's hard for people to trust and believe."

"I know, I just... if someone does not come forward we won't get funding to continue," she said sadly looking down at her uneaten plate.

"Someone will come forward" he tried to reassure her.

"I … have been thinking about something... it's just a thought in case no one volunteers" she said slowly. Oliver turned his head, his attention completely drawn to what she might say. "Maybe … I can have my chip removed and the new one inserted to ensure that it is functioning properly" she emphasized her words.

"Absolutely not" Oliver shook his head, not believing what she was suggesting.

"Here me out" she held her hands up in front of her, "I can do the procedure if it does not work we install the other chip back in and I'll be fine, I need to give people hope … if I do it myself there will be no reason for people to mistrust."

"Felicity, I love you, and I love you more for wanting to do this... but surgery is always risky if it works you have to go through physio again and... please" he begged her. "At least, wait, give it some more time, if no one volunteers then we can discuss this again, but please wait" he got up and kneeled in front of her placing his hands on her thighs, silently pleading with her.

"Ok, I'll wait" she smiled, wrapping her arms around him. She knew he was scared, hell she was too, but she did not have a choice. She knew that it would most likely end in this outcome but she did want to wait. She did agree with Oliver that surgery, not once but twice would be hard and she had no intentions of harming herself. She could not be selfish like that. Oliver had already lost so much, she would never risk anything and pain him like that. "I love you" she whispered.

"I love you too."

* * *

It had been almost 2 weeks and no one had come forward, Oliver was at Felicity's office and he was started to get nervous. He knew wheat the next stage would be if no one volunteered. He was anxious and worried, despite personally informing everyone he could think of and believing he had some power as Mayor did nothing. As they were having lunch together, Jerry knocked on the door and interrupted them.

"Sorry Felicity," he said nervously, although she had insisted that she calls him Felicity, Jerry was always so nervous around her.

"Yes, Jerry?"

"There is someone here to see you about the biochip trials, she does not have an appointment but I did not want to send her away..."

"You did the right thing can you send her through please," Felicity said as she got up from the chair, looked at Oliver excitedly. Finally, someone had come through. Oliver sighed in relief and quickly took hold of her face and kissed her. He was over the moon as this mean that she did not have to do the surgery on herself.

"Hello Ollie," a small voice said. A dark haired woman wheeled herself into Felicity's office, she looked at Felicity. "Hi, I'm Mckenna, Mckenna Hall, I heard about the trials" she smiled.

* * *

 **This in no way will be a cheating story line... Oliver would never do that... however, Mckenna will do a lot to try and get in between out favorite couple.**


End file.
